Obesity has become a global concern over the last four decades as the number of obese and overweight individuals has tripled since 1975. In 2016, about one in five children across the world, aged 5-19 years, were overweight or obese and half of them lived in Asia. The obesity epidemic, which was once prevalent in high-income, developed countries, has today soared in low- and middle-income economies, particularly in cities. A similar trend is observed in the case of hypertension—a major risk of obesity. In India, many studies have assessed the prevalence of obesity and hypertension and the correlation between them. However, recent data on this, particularly regarding children and adolescents from urban and rural areas, is scarcely available. Now, a recent study by researchers from India and the UK, published in the journal BMJ Open, provides some insights into the current prevalence rates for obesity and hypertension among adolescents in Northern India.

Diabetes is a chronic, life-threatening disease affecting over 8.8% of the Indian population. These individuals often need specialised medical care and support to keep the blood glucose levels in check and ward off complications. Hypertension, a condition where the blood pressure is high, is also chronic and is known to affect about one in three adults in India. As both these conditions are chronic and life-threatening, they pose a significant burden on India’s healthcare system. But, what happens when they coexist in an individual?
A recent study, published in the Journal of Human Hypertension, highlights the plight of individuals in India, with both hypertension and diabetes.

Hypertension is the most prevalent chronic ailment in India. According to the National Health Profile (NHP) 2019 data, of all the patients who visited government clinics in 2018, 6.19% of the people were diagnosed with hypertension. It is higher than the people diagnosed with diabetes, the next prevalent chronic disease in India, which accounts for 4.75%. However, the numbers could be an underestimation, since the NHP does not assess people who visit the private clinics.

A new study recommends repeating blood pressure measurements to diagnose hypertension accurately.

Study by researchers from  Institute of Public Health, Bangalore investigate how successful Primary healthcare Centres are for treating non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension. They find many loopholes in the healthcare delivery system.

Researchers from the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bangalore, with the support of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research of the World Health Organization, have assessed the quality of generic medicine and their branded equivalents in South India. Their results show that the quality of generic medicines from multiple sources was similar to that of the branded medicines.